Two weeks went by with no improvement. Remus was losing sleep over the whole thing. He had been so sure he could have helped Harry, and he was so sure that by his birthday everything would be fine again. Harry was now spending all the time in his room. Remus did everything he could to get him out of there, he suggested walks in the forest next to the house, Quidditch, wizard's chess, everything. Nothing was working though, he would just sit in his room moping around, probably thinking of Sirius.

Maybe he needed to see his friends, maybe seeing them would help. They had always been a source of strength for him. Harry might talk to them, or Mr. Weasley. He looked forward to his birthday, when they would be coming over. He had planned a day of fun for Harry, he knew this would be the first birthday party he had ever had.

Remus woke suddenly and looked at the clock, it was 7am. He got up, today was Harry's birthday, and he was excited for the party. He hoped that Harry would enjoy his birthday, he had heard from Ron that when he first met Harry never expected anything for his birthday. It pained him to think of that, but now it was time to make up for all the lost birthdays. He quickly showered and dressed before knocking on Harry's door. He opened it when he heard no response, maybe he hadn't heard the knock and was still asleep. It was a clean room, Harry kept his trunk by the end of his bed, and the bed was made. Remus frown, was Harry downstairs and all ready awake? Remus was usually the first one up. He went downstairs and into the kitchen. No Harry. He went into the living room, but Harry wasn't there either. Remus called Harry's name a few times, but there was no reply.

It was 8am now and Harry was up, but Remus couldn't find him anywhere. Remus stood in the kitchen thinking… did he runaway? Was he hiding from him? But then a thought came to him; he raced back upstairs and looked through Harry's trunk. The Invisibility Cloak and his Firebolt were gone. Harry was gone. But how? He had never told Harry but all the windows and doors had to be opened by magic. They were locked at all times, he had feared that Harry might run away so he took that precaution. How did he get out? He had to go see Dumbledore.

As another precaution, Dumbledore had given Remus two portkeys, one to Hogwarts and the other to the Burrow. Remus now activated the Portkey to Hogwarts and he was gone.

Dumbledore was sitting at his desk reading the Daily Prophet; Remus hadn't expected him to be up. He looked up surprised to see Remus in his office.

"He's gone," Remus said right away.

"Gone?"

"He's not in the house," Remus explained. "I woke up this morning and he was gone."

"Have you checked the Burrow?" Dumbledore asked getting up.

"No I wanted to talk to you first," Remus told him. "I have no idea where he could be. He took James' cloak and his broom."

"His Firebolt is over there. It was taken from him last year and he never got it back."

Remus looked at the broom standing upright in the corner. He didn't have his broom, so he couldn't be far. He sighed this was good news. But how long had he been gone? When did he leave? Why did he leave?

"I'll go to the Burrow, he has to be on the grounds if he doesn't have his broom. I don't have a broom in the house for him to take," Remus sighed.

"Go check with them, I'll contact Ms. Granger and see if she knows anything," said Dumbledore.

Remus nodded and he went to the Burrow. He apparted in their kitchen and found himself with 6 wands pointed at his chest. He took a step back.

"Oh hello Remus," Mr. Weasley put his wand away. "You surprised us. We didn't expect to see you for a few more hours."

"Have you seen or heard from Harry?" Remus asked.

Ron spoke up at once, "No."

"He's gone," Remus sighed. "I… he isn't in the house. I woke up and he was gone."

"You lost Harry?" Mrs. Weasley asked. She had been very worried about Harry since Sirius's death. She had always thought that Sirius was hotheaded and rash, and not the right godfather for him, but she knew that Harry loved Sirius as he would his father. She had tried countless times to get Harry to come to the Burrow, but Dumbledore kept saying no and then Remus asks once and he goes off there without a word to them. She was sure that Harry would have been happier here, with the twins and Ron.

"He couldn't have gone too far," Remus looked around. "I was hoping, to cover more ground if I could ask you to help me look for him."

"YOU LOST HARRY?" Mrs. Weasley repeated now yelling.

"Molly." Mr. Weasley warned.

"How could you lose him? YOU WERE SUPPOSE TO BE WATCHING HIM!"

"I was!" Remus was shocked at her behavior.

"Well you didn't do a very good job! I told Dumbledore that Harry should have come here. He would have at least been looked after!"

"Molly."

"I know how to look after Harry! I took precautions! He was fine!"

"Well I guess he wasn't! Irresponsible just like Sirius!"

"YOU LEAVE SIRIUS OUT OF THIS!" Remus roared.

"You think you know what is best for him, just because you knew James!"

"James was my brother! I have every right to look after him! James would have trusted me with him!" Remus could feel the wolf in him rising.

"Then why weren't you there for him when his parents died? Where were you when he needed you?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"How dare you!" Remus was now shaking with anger.

"We were there when Harry needed us! We showed him how to get on the Platform, and we gave him a place to stay during the summer! Where we you?"

Remus' mouth opened, he was staring at her. How dare she say these things!

"You think you can just walk in his life and control it."

"He's not your son!" Remus yelled. He remembered Sirius saying the same thing. "Can you honestly tell Harry you know what its like to lose a parent figure, to lose someone you thought you couldn't live without?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Well I can! I lost everything that Halloween night! Have you ever lost three brothers all in one night? I'm sorry if I wasn't strong enough to keep going, to put it all past me and look after a 1-year-old baby, who looked exactly, like his father and reminded me of him. I'm sorry every time I thought about Harry, I thought of my own father, who died for me, he jumped in front of a silver bullet when I was 8 years old! Oh no though, you would have been strong enough to put it all behind you and move on with your life!" He stopped talking.

He took a deep breath. "The reason Harry is with me is he wouldn't be happy here. He loves you all but he wanted to be left alone this summer. He is confused about life, about death, he lost the most important person in his life, and he is not ready to face you! Has Ron not told you that Harry has not opened one letter this whole summer? He needs someone who understands him and doesn't pity him! You all pity him! I don't, I know what he needs at this moment!" He stopped talking again. With another sigh, he looked around at Mr. Weasley, the twins and Ron, "I have better things to do, Harry is still out there somewhere."

The twins stepped forward; "We are going with you."

"And me," Ron stepped forward.

"I'll come," Mr. Weasley didn't look at his wife.

Remus held out the Portkey to them, and they all touched it.

Back in the kitchen Mr. Weasley spoke to Remus at once, "I'm sorry for that. You know Molly, Harry is another son to her, and she thinks that he should be around the children to help him."

Remus sighed, "I know, I know. I just lost it when she mentioned Sirius and James." He looked around, "No apologies are needed, I know it's a trying time. You know we use to say that the only person who can understand a Marauder is another Marauder. We all had hard lives… especially Harry."

"Well why don't we look for Harry," Mr. Weasley clapped his hands together. "You said that you took precautions, what were they?"

Remus looked around; "Er, the windows and doors leading out have to be opened with magic. Harry didn't use magic, he can't, he's still underage."

"When has that stopped Harry?" asked Ron.

Remus pulled a long, thin piece of wood out of his pocket. Everyone recognized it at once as Harry's wand; "I took this from him when he came, just incase. So unless he can do wandless magic, he didn't get out that way."

"He doesn't have his wand?" Mr. Weasley now looked worried. "Oh dear."

"Another reason he has to be found at once," Remus shrugged. Remus looked around, he noticed the twins had stayed quiet and were giving each other looks and nudging each other forward. Remus knew this wasn't a good thing. He cleared his throat and they both looked at him, "What do you know?"

"Er, well, we know how Harry got out," Fred said looking around.